Hello everybody!
As we speak I’m sharing my episode 1-2 notes on Love Subsequent Door, as a result of I’m loving it instantly, and I used to be questioning should you’d like to affix me? 🤗
These are my episode 1-2 notes, precisely as they seem on Patreon, ie, with out screenshots (I’m saving these for the precise overview).
I hope you all get pleasure from, and I hope you’ll think about becoming a member of us over on Patreon, for the remainder of the discussions! ❤️
Episode notes:
E1-2. My mates, I actually, actually like this, and instantly too.
It’s not excellent, positive, however Present’s bought me melting everywhere in the ground by the top of episode 2, in order that’s positively one thing, sure? 🥰
I’ll discuss extra about that later, however first, I’d prefer to say that one of many huge broad impressions I get, is that Present is tenderly made.
The factor that stands out in my thoughts, is the naming of our episodes, so far.
It’d sound like a small factor, however the truth that that is thoughtfully finished, fairly delights me.
Episode 1 is titled “Comeback” and when it ends, it morphs into “Come again residence.”
Episode 2 is titled “Hate” which then morphs into “Love,” however I’m extra taken by the unique Korean, as a result of “미움” morphs into “마음” with, not the addition, however the extension of a single stroke.
It seems like Present’s saying, that whenever you attain out and contact another person, hate then turns to like, and I actually do love that. 🥲
I’m positive there are various different examples of Present being thoughtfully and tenderly made, however that is the one that basically sticks in my thoughts, for a begin.
Total, I’d say that there’s a little bit of a “household drama” kind of taste that I get, that anchors the rom-com story that’s marketed.
Like the best way we open to the group of ahjummas mountain climbing collectively on the mountain path, being all frank and boisterous of their conversations and jokes.
That vibes very “household drama” to me, which I truly like, as a result of I do get pleasure from a superb household drama – this one simply doesn’t have the excessive episode depend to go together with. 😉
Our characters are typically fairly loud and boisterous after they’re agitated, and whereas screechy characters are usually not my factor, I discovered this all inside the realm of acceptability and believability, for me, each by way of this having household drama vibes, and in addition, by way of the precise characters themselves.
Particularly, I’m pondering of Seok Ryu’s mother, Mi Suk.
She’s loud and proud about her daughter being sooo profitable and achieved, and I genuinely suppose that she’s written that approach, to point out that she’s not as high-class or genteel as she’d prefer to be.
She’s a not very well-educated ahjumma, who’s had her fair proportion of hardship, and her louder, rougher persona, displays that lack of refinement.
And, as soon as we understand that she truly feels embarrassed about her lack of private profession achievements, and pours all of her hope onto Seok Ryu, taking vicarious satisfaction in Seok Ryu’s achievement, it turns into a lot simpler to know why Mi Suk takes Seok Ryu’s achievements – or lack thereof – so personally.
Asian dad and mom having very excessive expectations of their offspring is already a well known phenomenon (I did inform you guys concerning the top-scoring lady in my main college, sure? She scored 100 marks for each take a look at and examination, and the one time she bought 95 marks on one thing, she bought scolded by her mom. She ended up topping the complete nationwide cohort, at our Major Faculty Leaving Examination, however I all the time questioned what it was prefer to be in her footwear, the place 95 marks was not ok).
Asian dad and mom who didn’t handle to attain a lot in their very own careers, actually because they sacrificed for his or her household and their youngsters, thus pinning their very own hopes on their youngsters, are likely to have even larger expectations of their children.
(Not that that could be a good or wholesome factor; that is simply how it’s, y’know?)
As I perceive it, the explanation that Asian dad and mom are typically this fashion within the first place, is due to poverty. No less than, that’s what I discovered from my mum, who grew up in poverty.
Whenever you’re dwelling in poverty, you realize that the one potential solution to raise your self and your loved ones out of poverty, is thru training. That’s why you’re employed so relentlessly in your training, after which in your profession.
I believe that pondering ultimately simply.. caught, as a lifestyle, kinda? 😅
On a associated tangent, I believed it will be related to speak a bit concerning the Asian approach of self-discipline, which regularly is a mix of scolding and a few sort of bodily punishment, whether or not that’s smacking or caning.
I’ve seen a few of you specific discomfort at watching Korean dad and mom smack their youngsters, and I wanna say, I don’t suppose dramas are simply placing that in there for leisure.
I actually suppose that that’s a mirrored image of the tradition; that that is how Korean dad and mom are, in the case of disciplining their youngsters.
As you realize, I’m not Korean, however in my very own expertise, I’ve been caned various instances, rising up, as punishment for dangerous habits &/or dangerous grades. It was what I and all my mates skilled, rising up.
That doesn’t make my dad and mom and their complete technology a technology of abusers; this was their approach of disciplining their youngsters.
Definitely, there’s a superb line between self-discipline and abuse, and I don’t suppose Present is condoning abuse.
(I’d say a superb rule of thumb right here, is when kdramas present us chaebol dads who decide up golf golf equipment in opposition to their youngsters &/or workers, that’s abuse. Smacking, yelling, and customarily chasing after your youngsters with leeks whereas making empty threats to kill them, shouldn’t be truly abuse. 😁)
It’s simply displaying us how Mi Suk, as a Korean guardian who has all her hopes pinned on her daughter, expresses her anger and disappointment, when she’s informed that Seok Ryu gave all of it up, on a whim.
After all, we discover out that Seok Ryu isn’t truly telling the reality right here, however Mi Suk doesn’t know that.
So far as Mi Suk is anxious, she believes Seok Ryu’s cowl story, that she simply bought bored with the whole lot, and that’s why she stop her job and broke off her engagement.
Given the context that Mi Suk believes that one ought to pour one’s all into elevating the social class one comes from, it positively would appear extremely irresponsible of Seok Ryu to offer all of it up on a whim.
And so, after I see Mi Suk go after Seok Ryu, in episode 1, with that handful of leeks, I really feel like I can perceive why she’s so shocked and horrified, and why she so desperately needs to alter the whole lot again, and have Seok Ryu return to the US, and make like this by no means occurred.
On that be aware, it truly is sensible to me why Seok Ryu would have developed this behavior of appearing like the whole lot’s okay, when she’s truly not okay.
I really feel like she should have found out that her dad and mom had been proudest of her when she shone the brightest in school, and didn’t give them any issues, and that is her approach of presenting her greatest self – by pretending that the whole lot’s okay, even when nothing is okay.
I noticed some feedback on-line the place viewers discovered Seok Ryu annoying, however I’ve to say, I don’t discover her annoying.
The way in which Jung So Min is enjoying her, regardless that the cues are on the refined facet, I discover it fairly straightforward to see that there’s extra happening, on the within, versus what she’s displaying her family and friends.
And so, I concluded that the whole lot about her robust lady picture, from appearing like nothing’s mistaken, to grabbing Seung Hyo in a headlock, is all simply her act; a coping mechanism of kinds, in order that she doesn’t have to point out everybody simply how susceptible and harm she actually is.
I positively suppose that that lens helps, so should you’re struggling to love Seok Ryu, that may be a superb lens to strive.
Additionally, regardless that Seok Ryu’s finished effectively at work and subsequently very possible has a good quantity of financial savings, it’s price noting that she chooses to go residence to her household, regardless that she’s additionally clearly fairly petrified of telling her dad and mom that she’s now now not engaged nor employed.
I do suppose that this exhibits that she truly needs to be again within the fold of her household’s arms. And, I additionally suspect that this may also imply that she’s been lonely with out them, whereas within the US. 🥲
We don’t get an entire lot of data from Seung Hyo’s facet of issues, however I believe that it’s not all a mattress of roses for him both, being his mother’s golden boy.
For a begin, although, we see that he does have some monetary hassle, and that’s why he’s moved again residence, by the top of episode 2 – which is nice for me, as a result of I like watching Seok Ryu and Seung Hyo collectively.
I actually just like the tone of their banter; to me, it’s not too aggressive. They vibe, to my eyes, like two reluctant siblings who discover it “so not cool!” to be present in one another’s orbits. 😁
The factor I like most, is that beneath all of the bluster and expressed annoyance, it’s straightforward to see that these two folks actually do care about one another, and belief one another.
And the way concerning the smiles that we see Seung Hyo leak, now and again, when he thinks about Seok Ryu?
Like on the finish of episode 1, when he walks away from her home, and thinks about how she’d fiercely protected him from different children, calling him her child – after which he smiles this little, barely teary, affectionate smile.
SO MELTY, omigosh.
I like this concept that Seung Hyo has a comfortable spot for Seok Ryu, regardless of all his grumbles and complaints. 🥲
Though Seok Ryu doesn’t need to inform anybody about why she’d supposedly stop her job, I really feel that what she tells Seung Hyo on that hilltop, the place they relaxation after operating from Mi Suk’s raging leeks, comes from one thing actual.
She will not be telling him the specifics of her true scenario, like how she’d been fired, and the way she’d discovered her fiancé dishonest on her, however the feelings and exhaustion that she describes to him, really feel actual. 🥲
And when Seung Hyo has monetary issues at work, Seok Ryu can inform, simply from taking a look at him, that one thing’s up, regardless that he doesn’t say something.
I like that she is aware of him that effectively, and I additionally like that she truly cares.
I additionally like that she goes to the difficulty of getting him a congratulatory pomegranate plant, for the opening of his new firm, and I like that he truly takes it to the workplace. 🥰
And, I didn’t discover this till I revisited the scene for these notes, however pomegranate in Korean is seok ryu, which is her identify! 😁 That’s why she tells him that it’ll remind him of her.
Though he asks if he can throw it away, I like that he principally accepted it and dutifully introduced it to the workplace. Tee hee hee. I like that. 🤭
And, when Seok Ryu truly exhibits up on the opening (which, I discover that she’s candy like that; she’ll say all types of gruff nonsense, however she’ll do one thing candy and considerate, like seek for that brooch for Mi Suk, and convey it to her), I like that Seung Hyo tells her, with a be aware of gentleness in his voice, that she ought to keep and eat, since they bought an costly caterer.
After which, when he overhears her huge have-it-out argument with Mi Suk, I like that he’s involved and truly goes out in search of her, after which finds her – as a result of he is aware of precisely the place she’d be. 🥲
I like that he simply sits together with her, and even goes to purchase an umbrella, when it rains, however then climbs proper again up, to take a seat subsequent to her once more.
Greater than that, although, I like that he understands that she’s harm and truly must cry, and that every one of her blustery humorous tales, are simply her approach of protecting up her ache.
I like that he tells her it’s alright to cry, and I like that this permission, is precisely what it takes, for Seok Ryu to let the tears movement. 🥲
Additionally, isn’t it candy, that when Seok Ryu insists that Seung Hyo inform her what’s bothering him, and he says that there are some dangerous money owed, she’s instantly able to intimidate these debtors into returning his cash.
Aw. It’s actually endearing, actually. 🥲
As for issues with Mi Suk, I actually discovered the have-it-out scene very cathartic to observe.
It’s arduous for an Asian child, to not solely stand as much as their dad and mom, however truly inform their dad and mom how they really feel, so it felt actually needful, actually, for Seok Ryu to inform Mi Suk that she simply wished to be her daughter, not her satisfaction and pleasure; that she wished to be Mi Suk’s daughter, even when she didn’t have a flowery job or a promising future.
The way in which Mi Suk then cried gutting tears all by herself, sitting within the storeroom that Seok Ryu’s bed room had grow to be, was actually fairly affecting to observe, actually.
I really feel that for the primary time, Mi Suk was placing herself in Seok Ryu’s footwear, like the best way she places down the bedding and tries to lie down in it.
I so love that Mi Suk decides to ask Seung Hyo to redo Seok Ryu’s room, in order that Seok Ryu would have a correct place to sleep, whether or not she was staying for a number of days, or a number of months.
Ahhhh. That’s SUCH an Asian guardian factor to do, to not truly discuss concerning the emotions, however do one thing to display their love.
Mi Suk making a particular breakfast of abalone rice and calling Seok Ryu to the desk is a technique, and this factor with the bed room is one other approach.
Each methods are Mi Suk displaying Seok Ryu that she’s liked and accepted, and actually, this half actually bought to me, as a result of it jogged my memory of after I’d needed to come residence to my dad and mom’ residence, when my marriage fell aside.
I’d needed to name residence in the course of the evening, to ask if I may come again, and my mum had mentioned sure immediately, and so they’d rapidly straightened up my room, in order that I’d have a correct place to sleep, upon coming residence, by no means thoughts that it was actually the nighttime.
That’s why this a part of these episodes actually resonated with me, and made me admire my mum all of the extra, for the best way she’d taken me again in, no questions requested, after I’d most wanted it. 🥲😭
On an OTP be aware, I’m blown away, first by how willingly Seung Hyo takes on the duty of redoing Seok Ryu’s room, and the way he actually applies himself to the duty, such that he doesn’t even present as much as the workplace.
After which, I’m blown away by the truth that he remembered the whole lot about Seok Ryu’s room, all the way down to the littlest element.
OMIGOSH. That thought, that he actually is aware of her that effectively, and cares sufficient to recollect, and cares sufficient to place effort into recreating the house, and even fill her ceiling with star stickers, simply flooring me. 🫠🫠🫠
I’m formally smitten, you guys. How is Seung Hyo this candy and considerate??? 🥹🥹
I simply love the thought that Seung Hyo transfer again residence, and is subsequently now actually Seok Ryu’s subsequent door neighbor – the place his room faces hers.
Eee!! I can already think about the potential sparks.
..Which we already get a bit of style of, through that flashback, the place Seung Hyo had caught a falling Seok Ryu, and so they’d landed on her mattress. You may virtually really feel the crackle within the air; the hyper-awareness is so eager on each side. 🔥
I can not wait, actually, to see extra of those two collectively.
On one other be aware, I discover myself properly tickled by the moment crush that Yun Ji On’s character, Dan Oh, develops on Mo Eum.
I imply, she’s so coolly badass, and so matter-of-fact about it, whereas being truly nice as an individual, that I actually perceive why he’d fall so arduous, and so quick. 😁
Additionally, I discover it fairly amusing that Dan Oh is such a dorky klutz, typically talking.
I really feel like these two may make a cute little couple in our story world.
All in all, this was a incredible opening week, so far as I’m involved, and I’m actually trying ahead to our subsequent episodes. 🥰
*This present is being coated on the Early Entry Plus (US$10) Tier on Patreon*
To view episode 1-2 notes in Patreon, together with everybody’s feedback, you’ll be able to go right here!
Yow will discover my Patreon web page right here, and for all future episode notes for this present you’ll be able to click on right here.
Episodes 3-4 notes will probably be out quickly! I hope you’ll think about becoming a member of us!
It’ll be a solution to have enjoyable, and help me on the identical time? 🥲❤️
PS: For extra data on what the Patreon expertise is like, you may like to take a look at my Patreon replace publish for August, which you will discover right here!
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